Fire Extinguished at Mina Abdullah Refinery

A fire described as "limited", which broke out at Mina Abdullah refinery, has been extinguished causing no casualties, said the Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC). The fire, which occurred in the refinery's vacuum distillation unit, was caused by a leak in the pumping system of the distillation tower, KNPC spokesman Mansour Al-Ajmi told KUNA, noting that the unit affected has been put on hold.

It took 15 minutes to extinguish the fire which occurred at 0530 local time, added Al-Ajmi, who reported no casualties and no damage or halt to the import and export of production as immediate health, safety and environmental emergency procedures were taken to counter the incident. Mina Abdullah is one of Kuwait's three refineries, and operates with a refining capacity of 370,000 barrels per day.